Durban - A SENIOR Durban advocate who was accused of using her position to try to shield her businessman husband from prosecution in a fraud matter, is off the hook.
The National Prosecuting Authority this week told The Daily News that it had declined to prosecute as “there was no reasonable prospect of a successful prosecution”.
A senior officer in the Hawks provincial anti-corruption task team (ACTT) said he was shocked to hear the news.
The officer had earlier said the case to investigate the advocate was registered, and the Daily News had seen the affidavit.
“For over a year we have been without any feedback on the case and now this? This is unbelievable because the officer who handled the matter was not informed about the development,” said the investigator.
In a sworn affidavit attached to the case docket, it was alleged that the advocate had asked a senior police officer to talk the investigators into dropping the investigation against her husband.
This apparently happened between July and September 2017.
“She told me to discourage investigators from pursuing charges and seizure of her husband’s assets. The advocate’s behaviour is an insult to me, and towards the oath she took to uphold the law without fear, favour and prejudice,” reads the affidavit. “Her behaviour is an embarrassment to the NPA. She compromised the important role that prosecutors have to uphold the law of our country.”
A case to investigate the advocate for defeating the ends of justice, obstructing the course of justice and corruption was then registered at Durban Central Police Station.
The woman’s husband was investigated on suspicion of involvement in a cheque scam at a Zululand Municipality between 2011 and 2012.
The head of the NPA, advocate Shamila Batohi, said through her spokesperson, Bulelwa Makeke, that the Northern Cape Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NCDPP) was tasked to investigate the senior State advocate.
On Wednesday, Makeke said: “The DPP Northern Cape, after considering the docket referred to him, took the decision to decline to prosecute, as there were no reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution.”